نَعيمي في الحُبِّ أَن تَشقى

بِالوَجدِ نَفسي الفانِيَه

My bliss in love is that it should make suffer—

through separation—my mortal soul.

وَمَوتي مِن لَحظِكَ المُصبي

هُوَ الحَياةُ الباقِيَه

And my death from your enticing glance

is everlasting life.

عَجِبتُ أَنَّ هَوى الغُزلان

مُستَعذَبٌ فيهِ العَذاب

I marvel that passion for gazelles

makes torment sweet within it.

وَلَيلُ الهَوى عَلى الهَيمان

أَحسَنُ مِن لَيلِ الشَباب

And love’s night, for one mad with passion,

is fairer than the night of youth.

وَوَعدي فيهِ مَعَ السُلوان

أَكذَبُ مِن وَعدِ السَراب

My pledge in love to seek forgetfulness

is falser than the mirage’s promise.

وَنَفسي تَقطَعُها شَوقاً

ظُبى الهُمومِ الماضِيَه

My soul is torn apart by longing

in the wake of bygone sorrows.

وَقَلبي مِن أَغصُنِ الكَربِ

يَجني قُطوفاً دانِيَه

And from the branches of anguish my heart

gathers low-hanging clusters.

فُؤادي رَهنٌ لَدى الوَجدِ

هَذا عَلَيهِ قُدِّرا

My heart lies pledged to longing;

this has been decreed for it.

وَطَرفي وَقفٌ عَلى السُهدِ

فَالنَجمُ مَعقودُ العُرى

My eye is vowed to sleeplessness,

its bond fastened to the stars.

فَلَيتَ البُعادَ في البُعدِ

بِحَيثُ قَد حَلَّ الكَرى

Would that separation were far off, in the far distance—

there where slumber has come to rest.

ياقَلبي إِنّي أَرى العِشقا

جَرَّ عَلَينا داهِيَه

O my heart, I see that love

has brought calamity down upon us.

وَهَبَّت ريحٌ مِنَ الحُبِّ

عَفَّت رُسومَ العافِيَه

A wind of love blew

and effaced the traces of well-being.

ما أَحرى مَن هامَ في هَمِّ

أَن يَسهَرَ اللَيلَ الطَويل

How fitting that one wandering in his anguish

should stay awake through the long night,

مُرَدّىً بِالحُسنِ مَعتَمِّ

يُعِلُّ بِاللَحظِ العَليل

made homeless by a turbaned beauty,

finding solace in his languid glance.

بَدا لي في فِعلِهِ ظَلَم

الخَصرِ بِالرِدفِ الثَقيل

In what he did, I perceived an injustice:

the waist oppressed by ponderous haunches.

كَحَملي في الحُبِّ ما أَلقى

تُضعِفُ نَفسٌ واهِيَه

Like the burden I bear in love,

it weakens a soul already frail.

ما أَشقى مِثلي بِلا ذَنبِ

يَصلى بِنارٍ حامِيَه

How wretched is one like me—though guiltless—

made to burn in a blazing fire.

كَفاني أَنّي بِأَكفاني

حَيُّ عَلى حُكمِ الغَرام

It is enough for me that, wrapped in my shrouds,

I live under love’s decree.

أَفناني مِعطَفُ فينانِ

يَميلُ مَيلاً بِالأَنام

A charmer’s supple figure has annihilated me,

swaying among humankind.

جَفاني بِغُنجِ أَجفانِ

مُسَدِّدٌ سَهمَ الحِمام

He shunned me with a dagger of eyelids,

while death’s arrow was aimed unerringly.

ظَلومٌ يُخَيِّلُ الحَقّا

أَحكامَ جَورٍ جارِيَه

A tyrant, he passes off as truth

unjust decrees now in force.

يَستَهدي المَلامَ في الصَبِّ

بِسَمعِ أُذنٍ واعِيَه

He summons reproach to testify against the lover,

and hears it with an attentive ear.

حَبيبي أَنوارُ أَشواقِك

لَيسَت عَلى قَلبي سَلام

My beloved, the radiance of your longings

brings no peace to my heart.

أَلحاظٌ صاحَت بِعُشّاقِك

حَيَّ عَلى طولِ الهَيام

Glances cried out to your lovers:

“Come to love’s long bewilderment!”

أُنادي مِن جَورِ أَحداقِك

نِداءَ مَسلوبِ المَنام

Under the tyranny of your eyes I cry out

with the cry of one robbed of sleep:

وَاَلهَفَ قَلبي لَقَد شُقّا

شَقَّ البُرودِ البالِيَه

“Alas for my heart—it has been rent

as worn-out robes are rent.”

جُفونُكَ بِالسِحرِ ياحِبّي

قَد أَهلَكَت سُلطانِيَه

Your eyelids, with their sorcery, my love,

have destroyed my sovereignty.